Archive for June, 2010

President Obama’s immediate predecessors were nicknamed Dubya and Slick Willie. I think he should have a nickname too. Since his pathetic, totally inadequate response to the spill in the Gulf of Mexico and it’s clean-up has left him covered in oil so to speak, since his personality is oily (unctuous, ingratiating, untrustworthy, slimy, smug, sneaky, two-faced, treacherous, disloyal, secretive, hypocritical, shifty, smarmy, self-satisfied, fawning, slippery, weak, obsequious, self-serving, thuggish, Machiavellian etc. etc.) and since his performance in office has been all of these things and more I believe Oily Obama is an excellent one.

Two Iranian ships carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza will try to breach Israel’s blockade next week.

The purpose of the voyage is not to deliver aid of course because the Iranians know perfectly well that Israel will maintain the blockade and intercept the ships. If there is humanitarian aid aboard Israel will offload the cargo and offer to allow it into Gaza by land-Hamas has refused such offers in the past however. It will not be allowed into Gaza by sea and the Iranians are well aware of this.

The real purpose is to evaluate America’s response to the attempted breach. If the United States chastises the Israelis, fails to take concrete measures to help Israel carry out the blockade and does nothing to prevent additional attempts to breach it in the future Iran and others will be encouraged to send more and more ships under the pretense of helping the Palestinians, ships that will contain weapons that would be used by Hamas to murder and maim Israelis and threaten Israel’s national security. Conversely, if the U.S. makes it clear that it fully supports the blockade because it is a necessary part of Israel’s efforts to keep weapons out of Hamas hands and that it will view attempts to breach it with the utmost seriousness and act accordingly, Iran and others will be discouraged from trying to smuggle weapons into Gaza by sea and fewer and fewer ships will try.

The Iranians are trying to measure the depth of America’s commitment to Israel and that is what this attempt is really all about. If the United States won’t support and defend Israel in instances such as this it most assuredly won’t suport and defend Israel if she ups the ante and undertakes more serious acts, up to and including military attacks which could conceivably include nuclear bombs. Until they are stopped continuously upping the ante is exactly what the Iranians would do.

Israel is also trying to measure the depth of America’s commitment as well. If the United States truly can’t be counted on Israelis will come to the conclusion that Israel has to act on it’s own in the name of national survival and, among other things, attack and destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities, the sooner the better. It really is all about killing or being killed. If the U.S. won’t prevent Israel from being killed it will have to prevent it itself. Whether or not America will do so is what everyone is trying to figure out.

Nobody in the Middle East ever earned respect or survived by being weak and unwilling or unable to do whatever is required to defend themselves. The sword is the only thing that will keep Iran or anyone else from attacking Israel…whether the sword is American or Israeli and when it will be used are really the only questions.

The Government of Israel has announced the names of the people who will sit on the panel investigating it’s interception of the Gaza bound flotilla on May 31st. The panel will be chaired by a retired Israeli Supreme Court Justice and the two panel members are an Israeli Professor of International Law and a General in Israel’s reserve forces. There will also be two international observers, a British winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and the Judge Advocate General of Canada’s armed forces, who is also an international lawyer. The inquiry will be wide-ranging and cover all aspects of the incident, including whether Israel’s blockade of Gaza is allowed under international law and how the violence and death that occurred came about.

The panel members and observers all have unimpeachable reputations and are exceedingly well qualified to participate in an inquiry of this sort. They can be counted on to produce a report that is honest, unbiased, thorough and complete.

Not surprisingly the inquiry has been criticized and dismissed by the Turks and the Palestinians, among others, ostensibly because they think it won’t be objective. That isn’t the real reason though…the real reason is that they fear the panel will uphold the legitimacy and legality of Israel’s blockade of Gaza and absolve the Israelis of blame for the violence and deaths on board the Mavi Marmara. It might point out a few other unpleasant truths as well, such as that Palestinians are the largest per capita recipients of foreign aid in the world, that Israel itself delivers up to 15,000 tons of aid to Gaza every week, that the blockade is necessary because without it more and bigger weapons would be smuggled into Gaza which would be used to murder and maim Israelis and threaten Israel’s national security and that the flotilla had nothing to do with delivering humanitarian aid-it was never anything more than a cheap publicity stunt calculated to discredit Israel and enhance Turkey’s standing in the Middle East and Islamic world.

The fact of the matter is that the inquiry could be conducted by Christ, Muhammad and Moses with Gandhi and Nelson Mandela as the observers and it would still be seen as unacceptable by the usual suspects. Turkey, Iran, the Palestinians et al don’t want an honest, balanced report that could be critical of them and expose their abominable actions and underlying mentality to the world. They want a report that will whitewash their behavior and heap criticism and approbation on Israel. They’re afraid that they might get something completely different however, which is why they’re doing everything they can to renounce it, aided and abetted by apologists like the European Union, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian and President Obama.

The new sanctions against Iran are a complete waste of time because they will do nothing to prevent Iranians from proceeding full steam ahead to develop nuclear weapons. This is the fourth round of sanctions and these will be every bit as unsuccessful as the others. Iranian President Ahmadinejad has already called them “worthless” and said they should go into “the trash bin” and he is right on both counts.

Sanctions won’t work for two patently obvious reasons.

1) Iran is unalterably opposed to Israel’s existence and committed to wiping it off the map. This is a religious imperative and nuclear weapons are necessary to bring it about.

2) Iran wishes to establish a world wide Islamic Caliphate based in Tehran. The first step is to get rid of Israel (the Little Satan), the second is to establish it’s hegemony in the Middle East, the third is to take over Europe and the fourth is to conquer the United States (the Great Satan), after which Western Civilization will be finished and Islam will rule the world. These are religious imperatives as well and nuclear weapons are also required for them.

The U.S. and Israel are the only two countries that can stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power and plunging the world into catastrophic war. America, or at least President Obama and his administration, doesn’t recognize and understand the implications and severity of the problem and doesn’t seem to have the foresight and courage to do anything substantial about it in any case. On the other hand, Israel has no illusions and sooner or later will launch a unilateral preemptive military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities in the name of national survival.

The betting here is that it will be sooner rather than later. Under President Obama’s leadership America’s special relationship with Israel has continually eroded and it’s commitment to protecting Israel is becoming less and less credible every day. Israel will act on it’s own if and when it feels it has no other choice and it will be entirely justified in doing so. Since Obama has done little if anything to hide his animus for the country and since this has led to Iran becoming stronger, more emboldened and on the verge of joining the nuclear club this could happen any time now.

So President Obama is trying to decide whose ass to kick over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Turn around and kick your own Barack. Your response has been pathetic and completely unacceptable and has done nothing but exacerbate the situation. It pales in comparison to President Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina for example.

In fact, since you are arguably the worst, most dangerous President in American history, certainly the worst since the almost as feckless Jimmy Carter, you can kick your ass for all kinds of other things as well because practically everything you’ve done (or failed to do) since you took office has damaged the country and it’s allies and friends around the world.

Not that you will of course-kick your ass that is.

Don’t worry though. The American people will do it for you come election time.

Oh, and by the way, you really shouldn’t use vulgar language like that. It demeans you personally, the nation and the office you temporarily occupy.

Iran’s threat to escort convoys to Gaza has nothing to do with delivering humanitarian aid there. It has several motives but delivering aid is not one of them. The Iranians are lying and trying to hoodwink the world into thinking that they want to ensure that aid gets through by sea but that is patently not the case.

Iran has at least six basic motives in making this threat.

First, it wants to prevent Israel from intercepting and boarding ships and inspecting their cargo. This would allow Iran to bring weapons into Gaza by sea, weapons which would be used to attack Israel and murder and maim Israelis. It wants to break Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza because that will enable it to vastly increase the number, range and killing power of weapons it already supplies to Hamas and other terrorist organizations.

Second, Iran wants to provoke Israel into taking military action against escorts because it believes that it will cause outrage around the world, outrage which would lead to further isolation and opprobrium and a weakening of America’s resolve to stand by it’s ally and friend.

Third, it wants to establish a seaport on the Mediterranean and breaking the blockade would enable it to do so in Gaza. The seaport would very quickly turn into a military base, from which Iran could threaten other countries in the Middle East and Europe in addition to Israel. It would dramatically increase Iran’s military capability and enable Iran to assert itself on the world stage and force it’s will on others in ways it currently cannot.

Fourth, it wants to prevent Turkey from becoming a dominant power in the region and hold on to it’s position as the Middle East’s strongest and most implacable foe of Israel and the West. It sees itself as the natural leader in Islam’s fight against Zionism, Capitalism and Western Civilization in general and wants to regain the momentum it lost when Turkey gained the world’s attention over the flotilla incident. Iran and Turkey have longstanding religious and political differences and the Iranians feel they need to make some sort of dramatic gesture to retain their bona fides in the Islamic world.

Fifth, the Iranians want to divert attention away from their nuclear weapons development program and widen rifts in the United Nations Security Council over how to deal with it. Focusing attention on the blockade and Gaza would enable them to do that.

Sixth, Iran wants to wipe Israel, the Little Satan, off the face of the earth and then conquer the United States, the Great Satan, on the way to establishing a world wide Islamic Caliphate. Breaking the blockade would bring them that much closer to achieving those goals.

An alleged sexual assault victim in Ontario wishes to wear a niqab in court while giving testimony against the defendants. The niqab would prevent them from seeing the face of their accuser.

This would be a violation of one of the most basic, fundamental principles western civilization and it’s system of justice is built on…the right of an accused person to see their accuser in open court and to have everyone else in court see them as well, most importantly Judges, Defence Lawyers and the jury if there is one. This principle rests on the dictum that a person is innocent until proven guilty and that an essential element in determining guilt or innocence is the demeanour and credibility of the accuser, which cannot be properly assessed if their face is covered. As principles go it doesn’t get any more basic and fundamental than that.

This violation should not be allowed under any circumstances. If it is Canadians can no longer claim to have an impartial, balanced court system because the scales of justice would be tilted squarely on the side of accusers and make it far more difficult for accused people to defend themselves. At present the accuser is required to prove that the accused is guilty as opposed to the defendant having to prove that they are innocent. Allowing accusers to hide their faces would significantly hamper this and change the nature and character of Canada’s system of justice. It would also be a prime example of how core western values and the principles western civilization is built on are being devalued, eroded and made to take a secondary role in our institutions, if they are permitted to have a role at all that is.

What’s next, female Muslims insisting that their cases can only be heard by a female Judge or that only females be allowed in court? Perhaps Muslims and their misguided apologists will insist that our system of justice be scrapped altogether and be replaced by sharia law, including it’s punishments. Don’t laugh, these things could easily happen, which is why it is incumbent upon all of us to speak out and defend our way of life if we are interested in seeing it survive. In that light it is encouraging to note that the Canadian Muslim Congress has filed written arguments against the accusers wish to wear a niqab in court, although it must also be noted that large numbers of Muslims in Canada disagree with the organization and that sharia law has come very close to being implemented here and the fight to permit it could be resurrected at any time. This will happen sooner rather than later of course if niqabs in court are actually allowed.

The case will be heard by the Ontario Court of Appeal beginning June 8 and could very well go all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

On no account should Israel weaken it’s maritime blockade of Gaza by failing to intercept the Rachel Corrie. The ship should be boarded and the cargo inspected, for the same reasons that the blockade exists to begin with…the safety of Israel’s population and the country’s national security depend on it.

If the blockade is weakened or breached there is no doubt that rockets with the ability to reach any part of Israel and murder and maim thousands if not millions of Israelis would be smuggled into Gaza. There is also no doubt that these rockets would be used as soon as possible. The only way Israel’s enemies can get these weapons of mass destruction into firing range at the present time is to bring them into Gaza by sea. If they succeed in doing so Israeli blood would flow and the country’s national security and very existence would be severely compromised at best and jeopardized at worst. Those are two of three reasons why the blockade cannot be weakened and why Israel cannot succumb to pressure to water it down, the third being that doing so would do nothing but embolden Israel’s enemies and bring an attack and war that much closer. That is exactly what would happen if Israel was perceived as being weak and unable or unwilling to protect herself and that is exactly what would happen if she backed down and failed this test and others to come.

Look at it as an extension of Israel’s security wall and blame her enemies for it’s existence. After all, if the Palestinians, the Iranians, Hamas, Hezbollah and the lot would recognize and accept Israel’s legitimate right to exist and allow Israelis to live in peace and security the blockade, the wall and all the other protective measures would not be necessary.

People who are concerned for the safety of the misguided activists on board the Rachel Corrie have nothing to be concerned about in any event. The public relations flacks who are their minders will ensure that there are no weapons of any kind on board and that the cargo consists entirely of aid supplies. They will also ensure that the activists refrain from violence and comply peacefully with Israeli instructions, all of this as part of an attempt to hoodwink the world into thinking that efforts to break the blockade are benign and that the violence which occurred earlier this week when the flotilla was stopped and boarded was the Israeli commandos fault and an overreaction on their part.

It’s all nothing more than political theatre and a public relations game, which is why the activists on board the Rachel Corrie are safe, far safer for example than Israeli civilians who are being fired upon from Gaza as we speak.

The anger towards Israel for it’s interception of the flotilla and the ensuing deaths is entirely misplaced. Israel was absolutely justified in halting the ships and preventing them from offloading their cargo in Gaza and the Israeli commandos were absolutely justified in defending themselves as well. Those are not the issues, not to anyone with a knowledgeable, unbiased, rational view of the situation there and in the Middle East in general anyway.

People were hurt and killed because the activists on board responded violently to the Israeli commandos, leaving them no choice but to react in kind. The activists chose to attack the Israelis instead of acquiescing peacefully and making their political points without anyone being injured. The violence and death could have been avoided if they wanted…the fact is the activists wanted violence to occur and initiated it to enhance the points they were trying to make.

That is callous and reprehensible and the world should be very angry at them, not at the Israelis who are the real victims in this sorry affair. It should also condemn them for getting people hurt and killed in an exercize that was never anything more than political theatre.

Anger and condemnation should also be directed towards the activists enablers and apologists, who are every bit as responsible as they are.